


I’ve Never Seen Someone Quite This Strange Before

by A_Tomb_With_A_View



Series: They tell us to be different, but no one told me I could go too far [7]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex’s parents are just the worst okay, Bobby is having none of Alex’s shit, Fluff, Friendships are just as important as relationships, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Reggie is Used to this, and sometimes you just wanna be held by ur homie, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28439766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Tomb_With_A_View/pseuds/A_Tomb_With_A_View
Summary: For some reason, Alex always preferred to go to Bobby when he was having a bad day.It wasn’t that he was particularly better at handling them - Julie had experienced panic attacks after her mom died, so if anything, she was the best at helping him out - or that his presence was particularly calming, it was just that for some reason, Alex felt the most settled around him. He supposed it was kind of like how Reggie went to Willie with flares when he could, and how Carrie would glom onto Luke when her insecurities built up.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer, Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Reggie Peters
Series: They tell us to be different, but no one told me I could go too far [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032153
Comments: 38
Kudos: 223





	I’ve Never Seen Someone Quite This Strange Before

**Author's Note:**

> Hi kiddos! This is a request from [@thespookyphantoms](https://thespookyphantoms.tumblr.com/) On tumblr for alex having a bad day and being comforted within this ‘verse, so I hope y’all enjoy!

For some reason, Alex always preferred to go to Bobby when he was having a bad day.

It wasn’t that he was particularly better at handling them - Julie had experienced panic attacks after her mom died, so if anything, she was the best at helping him out - or that his presence was particularly calming, it was just that for some reason, Alex felt the most settled around him. He supposed it was kind of like how Reggie went to Willie with flares when he could, and how Carrie would glom onto Luke when her insecurities built up. 

It had taken a while for them to work out a system, and the first time Luke had referred to Nick’s expertise instead of Alex’s own, it had stung. A lot. But - with a lot of Flynn and Julie’s help - they’d finally figured out that it was best just to follow their instincts when it came to this kind of thing, which was how Alex found himself worming his way in between Bobby and Reggie at three in the morning, doing his best to keep his breathing level. 

“Jeez… Lexi?” Bobby barely opened his eyes, voice thick with sleep.

Alex hummed and pulled the duvet up to his throat. “Go back to sleep. Just shaky.” 

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Reggie slurred, hooking his chin over Alex’s shoulder. 

Alex shrugged a little. “Just feel a bit wired, Reg.” 

“‘ll go sleep wi’ Willie, ‘en,” he mumbled, pressing his cheek against Alex’s before crawling out of the bed.

“Wait, no, you don’t gotta, man,” Alex protested, throwing his arm out. “Come back.” 

Reggie shook his head. “You’ll get weird if you feel crowded, ‘Lex. ‘Sides, Willie and me need some non-flare cuddles. Don’t come get us ‘less you’re bringing pancakes.” 

Bobby nodded, face still mushed into his pillow. “I’ll make ‘em choc chip.” 

“This is why I love you,” Reggie told him solemnly, then shut the door behind himself on the way out.

Alex turned to face Bobby, playing with the strings of his hoodie. “You can go back to sleep if you want.” 

“Oh, fuck off,” Bobby muttered, rearranging them until he was laid flat on his back with Alex sprawled over his chest. “Now, what’s bothering you?” 

Alex shrugged, resting his cheek on Bobby’s sternum. It probably wasn’t that comfortable for him, but Alex was kind of preoccupied. “My mom tried to call me last night,” he admitted. 

Bobby lifted his head. “Shit.”

“Yeah.” 

“How’re you feeling?” 

“Like I’m gonna throw up,” Alex admitted. “Or cry. Or scream.” 

“That’s fair.” Bobby nodded. “What did she want?” 

Alex laughed wetly, using Bobby’s shirt to wipe his eyes. “She… she saw a picture of me and Jules getting iced coffee…”

“Please tell me this isn’t going where I think it’s going,” Bobby pleaded.

“You’ve met my mom, bro, you know it’s going there.” Alex sucked in a breath, doing his best to quash down the panicked feeling in his stomach. “Apparently I should feel free to come by on Thanksgiving if I bring my girlfriend.”

“That sucks, man, I’m so sorry.” 

Alex shrugged. “Nothin’ new.” 

“It  _ is  _ new for them to call you out of the blue and offer you a chance at your old life if you lie about who you are,” Bobby reminded him gently. “You thought you’d been cut off,  _ permanently _ . This… it’s a new level of cruel, man.”

Alex tried to stop his shoulders shaking. “You think I don’t fucking know that? I thought they were out of my life, for-for _ ever,  _ and now it turns out… it turns out all I have to do to get them back is - is lie, for two days! And half my brain is saying that that… that that would be the stupidest thing e-ever because I love Willie, and-and I’m only just getting past what they, what they put me through, but the other half of me just wants to go  _ home.”  _

“Hey, hey,” Bobby murmured, pulling Alex up into a proper hug. “That’s okay. Y’think we don’t all feel like that?” 

“I know, I know, but… if Emily came to pick Luke up tomorrow, he’d be going home knowing he’d proved her wrong, and he’d know that by making something of himself by doing what he loves, he’s won, and she kind of has to believe him now. If Reg’s folks swung by, Reg could just ask if they’re divorced and know in an instant what his options were. If your’s and Carrie’s called you, you could make an in-the-moment decision of whether you’re willing to put yourself through all that again, because you know what they’re like.” Alex rubbed his eyes furiously. 

Bobby rubbed slow circles on his back. “But..?” 

Alex shrugged weakly, trying to get his thoughts in order even as they swirled around his mind at an ever-increasing rate. “But my mom and dad were  _ good  _ parents before I came out. They researched my anxiety, they bought me a drum kit every time I grew out of an old one, they watched me every time I ran, they let me try a million different sports ‘til I found surfing and running, and they kissed me goodnight, and - and, if I’d been straight, I’d still be going ho-home every few weeks.” 

“Hey, Al, listen to me,” Bobby said gently, brushing a strand of hair out of Alex’s eyes. “If you wanna ask Julie to pretend to be your girlfriend so you can go home for two days, then I will support you, and I will be here with ice cream for when you get home, and if you want to storm thanksgiving with Willie, hell, man I’ll fucking drive you, but you should know that you have a family, right here, in this apartment that we definitely should not have bought until we’d signed a record deal, with people who’ve seen you fall down the stairs every time Willie wears a crop top, and listened to you ramble about idiosyncrasies three tequila slammers into a Tuesday brunch, and love you anyway. I know that we’re not, and never will be, your mom and dad, but we love you so fucking much, even though - no,  _ because _ \- we know you’re a gay disaster. Okay?”

He laughed wetly and shuffled back down until he could press his forehead against Bobby’s collarbone. “I just don’t understand why that was the one hurdle they couldn’t jump,” he said desperately, voice strangled around the lump in his throat. 

“What do you mean?” Bobby resumed carding his fingers through Alex’s hair, absently working through any knots he found. 

“I just. I was a weedy kid that wanted to dance and I got anxious when I had the remote and had to be the one forward-winding and I’ve always loved jewellery and the colour pink and come on, I’m not subtle when I’ve got a crush,” Alex explained. “There’s no way the thought didn’t, I don’t know - there’s no way they were taken by surprise when I came out, but I don’t remember them getting distant, or weird, and then, and then I said the words and I had two days to move out while they visited my sister in college, and, and I don’t get why they didn’t change how they treated me before that or refuse to let me see a therapist because  _ emotions are for girls _ or some bullshit, or-or refuse to let me wear pink or rings, or watch the new Baywatch a million times just for that stupid muscle-off scene.”

“Al, your parents loved you,” Bobby reminded him quietly, “And clearly they feel very strongly about the gay thing, so it’s possible they were just trying to trick themselves, or ignore it until you forced them to face it.”

Alex nodded, tugging the duvet over his head for a minute. Eventually, he let Bobbt lift it up. 

Bobby exhaled steadily. “Lexi, what would you do if Reggie’s parents told him they’d… shit, i don’t know, if they told him they’d gotten a divorce, and they’d been to therapy, but the only way they were willing to see him again was if he broke up with me and found a girlfriend?”

“I know what you’re doing,” Alex told him, crossing his arms and resting his head on them. “It’s not gonna work.”

“Oh, just humour me, dumbass.” Bobby pulled on his hair gently. “C’mon.”

Alex sighed. “I’d tell him fuck his parents, he’s got a life, and a family, and if they really loved him, they wouldn’t be offering ultimatums as if they knew what was best for him, like they haven’t been fucking him up since he was old enough to discern between angry voices and happy voices.”

“Okay, there we go.” Bobby resumed carding his fingers through Alex’s hair. “Fuck your parents, you have a life, and a family, and if they really loved you, they wouldn’t be coming back into your life after fucking devestating you when you were fifteen, saying shit like congrats on outgrowing your phase. You deserve better, and this is a low blow, but Willie deserves better, and you know if you asked, he’d go along with whatever.” 

“I know,” Alex admitted quietly after a minute, “I just…I guess I just needed someone whose opinion I value to say it, instead of trying to decide which half of my idiot brain was right.” 

“Aw, Lexi.” Bobby grinned teasingly. “You value my opinion?”

Alex snorted. “Not massively, but y’know, trusting my own judgement has led to some very interesting places-”

“Like getting your helix pierced because Willie said he liked piercings even though you’re terrified of needles?” 

“... like getting my helix pierced because Willie said they liked piercings even though I’m terrified of needles,” Alex agreed. “So, even though trusting your judgement has led to me cutting sleeves off several t shirts with wild patterns just to sew them onto Luke’s cutoffs, I figured it might be a little bit better than mine.” 

Bobby pulled a face. “Excuse you, that was hilarious.” 

“He put all my drumsticks in a vat of oil!” Alex protested, rolling off to lay next to Bobby, then propped himself up a bit. “And he didn’t do  _ anything  _ to you, even though it was your idea!” 

“Julie stole my guitar, man,” Bobby reminded him. 

“Julie’s five foot four, Robert, I think you would’ve been fine.” Alex poked Bobby’s side until he relented and shifted so he was laying half on top of Alex. 

Bobby closed his eyes as Alex started running his fingers through his hair, like he’d done to Alex. “You’re telling me you’d fight Julie?” 

“Oh, absolutely not, but you’d fight god if given the opportunity.”

“I think Julie is a  _ little  _ scarier than god, Alexander. Even ignoring that she’s crazy smart, she’s best friends with my devil half-sister’s girlfriend, who could probably ruin the band socially in three minutes.” 

Alex paused. “Okay…That’s fair.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much appreciated, feel free to swing by my [tumblr](https://a-tomb-with-a-view.tumblr.com/post/623186092532924416/master-list-for-everything-ive-written-so-far) to request something, or just for a chat!


End file.
